Brown's Ohio tour ends at UAW Local 12 in Toledo

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s tour of Ohio in a caravan of vehicles built by union workers ended today at the UAW Local 12 hall on Ashland Avenue.

A crowd of more than 300 people, mostly UAW workers at the Toledo Jeep and GM Toledo Transmission Plant, greeted Senator Brown, who faces Republican state Treasurer Josh Mandel in his re-election bid.

The tour began Oct. 26 in Cincinnati and traveled 2,100 miles across the state with stops in 25 cities, including Lima, Columbus, Akron, Canton, and Warren. UAW-built Jeep Wranglers and Chevrolet Cruzes, also an Ohio-made vehicle, as well as trucks and cars with transmissions made at the Alexis Road GM plant, were in the caravan.

Mr. Brown said that between 2000 and 2010, the county lost 5 million manufacturing jobs and 60,000 plants closed, and many UAW workers were on the verge of losing their jobs before the auto rescue.

“It was the leadership of the UAW ... But mostly it was your activism and your passion and the stories you told me and the stories you told others that finally convinced the government to do what it should do,” he told supporters.

He said 500,000 new manufacturing jobs have been added since the government loans were made to GM and Chrysler.

“That’s why you stand up for manufacturing and that is why you stand up for the working class,” he said.